Existing customers have been on a different excessive use policy that capped monthly usage at 250 GB, urging customer who exceeded it to consider a cable modem tier that was commensurate to their usage patterns. Those subs will transitioned to the newer plan next month, Mediacom spokesman Thomas Larson confirmed.

Under the unified policy, all Mediacom residential customers can buy additional blocks of 50 GB for $10 when they go over the soft monthly consumption cap, which changes depending on the speed of service the customer subscribes to.

At the low end, the soft usage cap for the 3 Mbps tier is set at 150 GB, and jumps to 350 GB for the MSO’s “Prime” tier (20 Mbps down), and up to 999 GB for customers who take the Mediacom 50-Meg or 105-Meg offering. Mediacom alerts customers via in-browser and e-mail messages when they are within 75%, 85% and 95% of their monthly data ceiling.

Larson said most of Mediacom’s customers – about 97% -- don’t reach their monthly caps. “It’s really a non-event for the vast majority of our customers…it’s not a significant revenue source for us.”

Mediacom ended the second quarter with 949,000 high-speed Internet subscribers.

Mediacom’s plan shares similarities to Suddenlink's policy, as well as others that Comcast is testing in several markets, including Nashville, Tenn.; Tucson, Ariz.; and, starting September 1, in central Kentucky; Savannah, Ga.; and Jackson, Miss. However, Mediacom’s approach offers more variability and larger monthly limits, particularly when it comes to its fastest tiers.